Blasts hit café in Iraqi capital, 13 die

Thirteen people have been killed in bombings carried out inside a café in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Iraqi security and medical officials said nearly 40 others were also injured in the bomb attacks.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said on Thursday that the coordinated bombings struck a café in the western neighborhood at Washash around 9:00 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) Wednesday while regulars were watching a football game, AFP reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for attacks, but Iraqi al-Qaeda frequently carries out coordinated bombings targeting mosques, markets and restaurants to undermine the government’s efforts to maintain security in the country.

The latest blasts on Wednesday, put the number of casualties across Iraq over the past 24 hours at 50.

Also on Wednesday, four policemen were killed and four others were wounded in the town of Ishaqi, north of the capital, as they were checking on a parked car that had a booby-trapped corpse inside. The body exploded after the officers opened the door of the vehicle.

Attacks in the provinces of Diyala, Nineveh, and Kirkuk — all north of the capital — also claimed six lives.

Iraq has been grappling with surging violence over the past few years with relentless attacks becoming a serious challenge for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

According to figures by the United Nations, at least 8,000 people lost their lives in Iraq last year, which was the highest death toll since a peak of violence in the country in 2007.